Police: Body cameras to protect officers, public

Police will soon have the ability to record every interaction an officer has with the public while on patrol, which is aimed at protecting both officers and citizens, Police Chief Michael Banks said Friday.
The Morgan City Police Department’s new body cameras arrived Thursday, Banks said.
The cameras clip onto officers’ uniforms and record video while an officer is on patrol.
“Morgan City is extremely fortunate to have an administration who recognizes a need for such a thing,” Banks said.
Law enforcement agencies across the country are scrambling to try to find the funding to do what the mayor and city council have done for Morgan City, Banks said.
The department purchased 25 cameras, which were funded by the H&B Young Foundation, Banks said. “There is a computer that we have on order that’s going to be dedicated strictly for this,” Banks said.
The police department’s command staff had the idea to ask for the body cameras, Banks said. “We have been in need of unit cameras, cameras in our vehicles,” Banks said. The body camera is an additional tool to protect the citizens of the community and the officers, Banks said.
Once policies and procedures regarding the cameras are in place, each officer will be assigned a body camera, Assistant Chief Mark Griffin Jr. said.
“That officer, in turn, will wear it each and every time that they are working,” Griffin said. Officers will be required to turn the camera on and keep it on during their patrol and turn it off upon completion of the patrol, Griffin said.
Supervising officers can then take the cameras, download the footage and save it to the computer, Banks said. Police ordered the computer to be used with the cameras Thursday, but do not know yet when it will arrive, Banks said.
“When it arrives, we’ll have our policy in place. We’ll have our people, hopefully, acclimated to using the camera,” Banks said.
Each camera holds 32 gigabytes of video so officers can begin to use the cameras before the computer arrives, Griffin said. “When the computer comes in, we’ll be able to remove them (videos) and start downloading files and keeping the ones that we need for evidence,” Griffin said.
In addition to video capabilities, the cameras can also record just audio or take digital still shots, Griffin said. “It’s a perfect tool,” Griffin said. “A lot of people look at it as Big Brother’s watching, but we like to look at it as a tool that our officers can use,” he said.
Police chose to purchase Safety Vision Prima Facie body cameras because of the unique features they had, Banks said. The cameras are water resistant and once an officer captures video, the officer is unable to alter it, Banks said. “He can only take that video and download it to a secure computer,” Banks said.
Other cameras the department looked at allowed officers to remove videos, Banks said. “We didn’t want that. We want every contact to be there, if needed,” Banks said. Each officer will have all of his or her video footage saved under his or her name on the computer, Banks said.
The Morgan City Police Department has had similar cameras in the past, but they did not hold up, Banks said. “This time we think we have found something that is a good quality product, and we should get a long-term use,” Banks said.